Measured Time leads redeeming Appleby-Godolphin exacta in Manhattan

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Siskany finished seventh Thursday as the favorite in the Belmont Gold Cup, and on Friday, English Rose, favored in the New York Stakes, was last of 12. Are Godolphin and trainer Charlie Appleby going to stay down on the mat for long? They are not. Measured Time was not the favorite Saturday at Saratoga, but he was much the best in the Grade 1, $1 million Manhattan Stakes, winning by two lengths while looking even more superior than his bare margin of victory.

Appleby and Godolphin rounded things out with a second-place finish from Nations Pride, second by neck over Ohana Honor and Far Bridge, who finished in a dead heat for third.

“This was our most confident race of this weekend, really,” said Appleby.

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With such confidence, there was no reason to get cute on Measured Time, who broke sharply from post 8 under William Buick and would have led had Strong Quality, the presumed pacesetter, not been pushed along into the first turn to make the running. The opening quarter-mile into a headwind was posted in a swift 23.18, but the leaders didn’t seem to be traveling all that quickly and the other six in the race bunched fairly tightly behind.

Strong Quality went to the half in 48.34 and never was going to be able to run with a colt of Measured Time’s class, giving way through a swift third quarter-mile in 23.30. That fraction melted Strong Quality but left no mark at all on Measured Time, who then laid down a fourth quarter-mile in 22.97, putting the Manhattan to bed. Buick did not appear to get to the bottom of his mount as Measured Time stretched his lead from 1 1/2 lengths at the stretch call to two at the finish.

Nations Pride, last in the early going, made a middle move to get into better position and finished solidly enough, though the two just behind him, Ohana Honor and Far Bridge, while solid high-level grass horses hardly are world class. Program Trading, winner of the Grade 1 Turf Classic last month at Churchill, got a good trip racing two paths off the rail and drafting behind Measured Time, but could do nothing with it, settling for fifth, a neck out of the dead-heat for third. He was 1 1/4 lengths better than Ireland shipper Al Riffa, who was unsettled in the paddock and the starting gate, with I’m Very Busy beating only a fading Strong Quality home. I’m Very Busy broke awkwardly and never got into much of a rhythm, but the bloom is off a horse who ran so well in the Pegasus World Cup Turf in January and the Muniz Memorial in March.

Measured Time, who took some late action but still was very fair value, returned $8.60 as the second choice behind Program Trading. The winning time of 1:51.94 for 1 3/16 miles over a firm grass course was just a couple ticks off the course record and got a 104 Beyer Speed Figure.

A homebred 4-year-old, Measured Time is by Frankel out of Minidress, by Street Cry, making him a half-brother to Rebel’s Romance, who won the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Turf, the $6 million Sheema Classic in March, and the Group 1 Champions and Chater Cup last month in Hong Kong. Rebel’s Romance is coming to Saratoga for the Grade 1 Sword Dancer this summer, while Measured Time could wind up at Colonial Downs in the Grade 1 Arlington Million.

The Million is run over 1 1/4 miles, and Appleby considers Measured Time a candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Turf at 1 1/2 miles. Measured Time, Appleby said, has been managed all along like a horse meant for American racing. Only once has he run over a European-style grass course: His other six races came on flat, oval all-weather tracks in England, and on the flat, oval Meydan turf course in Dubai. There, he hit a new high-water mark finishing a close fourth March 30 in the Dubai Turf, though an inside trip behind rivals in that race might not have been ideal for Measured Time, who wants to stride out forcefully and in the clear.

“Obviously, we saw what he did in Dubai. Nice, level tracks suit him. He’s a big-striding horse, and that that’s why we made decision to let him get on with it today, let him get on with it rather than get him in a tangle. You try to organize a horse like that, and he finds it hard. He’s happy going on,” Appleby said.

The sizeable Godolphin string of Appleby-trained horses based in America this spring has been making hay since the Keeneland meet in April. Coming into this week, Appleby’s runners in 2024 American turf stakes had been 5-5-3 from 16 starts. Measured Time might have been second choice, but Appleby was heavily favored to break through at some point this weekend.

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